San Jose Boulevard: Road hazards ahead for Carlsbad businesses?

Constructors, Inc. workers are continuing to labor hard on the San Jose Boulevard construction even as the holiday approaches.
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Two months after being voted the Best Mexican Restaurant in Carlsbad, Rojas Mexican Grill and Restaurant is losing business. And it's all thanks to the San Jose Boulevard construction project, believes business owner, Angie Leyba.

"I know that this area of San Jose really needs it," said Leyba, pointing outside her restaurant window, but she doesn't think much thought was put into how the construction would affect businesses before the project began.

Flashing signs around town proclaiming "San Jose Boulevard Closed" and unclear detour markers have led to slow days and a loss of $3,000-$4,000 per week for the small restaurant, Leyba said.

Leyba reported she has received many phone calls from people asking how to get to her restaurant. Others, she said, have told her they've given up trying to get around the construction, and they won't see her again until it's finished.

"You would have thought that the day after I received an award for the best Mexican restaurant that I would have boomed," said Leyba. "Instead, I died." That was the same week that construction began and profits at Rojas started declining.

"Downtown they did the construction in sections," Leyba said, referring to the Canal Street construction project, "but this time they blocked all the streets to get over here." Customers now have to go from Canal Street all the way down to Kircher Street and make a right, adding a few extra miles to their trip, said Leyba.

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"I don't recommend North Canal Street to anybody," said Ida Navarrette who has also been feeling the construction's effects at the San Jose Senior Center. And while Rojas may be taking the hardest hit, Navarrette said she has also noticed a decline in the senior center's numbers since construction began - depending on what food they're serving, she joked. Many senior citizens who frequent the center are saying it's a time-consuming hassle for them to drive so far down Canal Street now that San Jose Boulevard is blocked off, she said.

Leyba said she has sent several complaints to the city on behalf of all the businesses being affected by the road closures, and recently Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway paid her a visit to assess the problem. The two took a drive as if they were customers coming from the direction of Hobbs, but detour signs directed them away from the section of San Jose Boulevard where Rojas is located and led them down by the baseball fields, Leyba said.
"It's not a good situation out there," said Janway. "The detour signs that were there didn't really make sense, but we moved them to where they should be," directing traffic back onto San Jose Boulevard where Rojas and the senior center are located. "We also put a business sign up to help them out," he added.

But Leyba thinks it may be too late to convince customers that they can still get to her restaurant. And in the meantime, her employees' hours and tips are being cut.

"My girls are used to making $100 a day in tips. Now it's maybe $30," she said.

Foreman Albert Gomez of Constructors Inc. said the scheduled date of completion of the construction is Jan. 7. That will clear up the area in front of the new Apartments at Avalon by Wood Avenue, where the biggest inconvenience is now and hopefully bring attention back to the suffering businesses in the area.

"It's not our intention to harm those businesses in any way, shape, or form," said Justin Kirkes, the Human Resources Director for Constructors, Inc. "We want to work with the community as best that we can while still providing a safe work environment for our employees and making it a safe place to drive."